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2005 V8 SUPERCAR: SANDOWN 500

2005 V8 SUPERCAR CHAMPIONSHIP

Round 9 of 13: Sep 9-11 Sandown 500 Melbourne

• 500km endurance race; 161 lap race
• first run 1964

CIRCUIT:

• SANDOWN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
• Located in Springvale, Melbourne
• 3.1 km circuit
• Top speed: approx 260 kph (straights)
• lap record: 1m 11.65s Lowndes 1999
• Qualifying Record: Lowndes 1m 10.9386 (1999)
• Lap Record: Ambrose 1m 10.8251 (1999)

• Yvan Muller, Alain Menu, Alex Tagliani
• David Brabham, James Courtney

NEW DRIVER COMBINATIONS:

• Craig Lowndes/Yvan Muller
• James Courtney/Jim Richards
• Marcus Marshall/Alex Tagliani
• Alain Menu/Matthew Halliday

SANDOWN 500 WINNERS:

• 9 times - Peter Brock
• 3 times - John Bowe (2001, 1995, 1994)
• 2004 winners: Marcus Ambrose / Greg Ritter, Stone Brothers Ford,
• 2003 winners: Skaife / T Kelly, Holden
• 2003 pole: Ambrose, Ford, 1m 11.8554s
• 2002 winners: Ambrose, Ford
• 2001 winners: SKAIFE, T KELLY, LOWNDES

• 1 Marcus Ambrose / Greg Ritter, Stone Brothers Ford, 160 laps
• 2 Russell Ingall / Cameron McLean, Stone Brothers Ford
• 3 Steven Johnson / Warren Luff, Dick Johnson Ford
• 4 McConville/Tander, Holden
• 5 R Kelly/Murphy, Holden
• 6 Bargwanna/Winterbottom, Ford

SCHEDULE:

• FRI - PRACTICE
• SAT - QUALIFYING, 1.30PM
• SAT - TOP 10 SHOOT OUT, 2.30PM
• SUN - RACE, 1.30 PM - 4.45 PM (161 LAPS)

RACE RESULT:

• 1 Lowndes/Muller, 161 laps
  LOWNDES: “We went for a dry car set up even though we knew it was going to be wet ... The end was always going to be interesting because we thought the HRT guys would have to pit but as it turned out that didn’t eventuate. It would have been nice to have a battle towards the end but either way we won the race.”
  MULLER: “It was a really big challenge to be quick, not make a mistake and stay on the pace”
• 2 Skaife/T Kelly
• 3 Jason Richards/Whincup
  RICHARDS: "Our campaign is amazing ... It shows that if you keep knocking on the door one day it is going to open. Every time and every race meeting we have something new and make some progress.”
• 4 R Kelly/Tander
• 5 Ellery/Macrow
• 6 Bright/Brabham
• 7 Ingall/Youlden
  INGALL: ‘What a day ... We certainly had our chances, but things didn’t fall our way.
  It was good to pick up 20 points on Marcos in the championship, but I think overall we could have had a much better result. When the weather is like it was today you sometimes have to roll the dice, but it just adds so many more variables. We now have to re-group and ensure that we are ready to go at Bathurst in a month’s time.”
• 8 Morris/Radisich
• 9 Bowe/McConville
• 10 McConville/A. Jones
• 11 Courtney/J.Richards
• 12 Canto/Seton
• 13 S.Richards/Dumbrell
• 14 Ambrose/Luff
  AMBROSE: “We obviously did not get the championship points we were aiming for ... It was a tough day for everyone involved at Pirtek Racing and we have become used to producing better results than that. At the end of the day we managed to finish the race, but the overheating problems could have certainly caused something that was terminal. We are not sure what the problem was, but it looks as though we have a small hole in the radiator or something. Sometimes you just have to wear an ordinary result, thankfully we did not have endure something worse than 12th.”
• 15 McLean/Ritter
• 16 Bargwanna/Winterbottom
• 17 A Davison/Simonsen
• 18 W.Davison/Johnson
• 19 Baird/D.Besnard
• 20 Holdsworth/Scifleet

QUALIFYING:

GRID, TOP 10 SHOOT OUT, SEPT 10, 2005

TANDER (POLE): “It was a good ride, the car was very good ... We couldn’t have gone any quicker. I’ve got it there for Rick to start the race which was the plan. Now we’ve got the job ahead tomorrow to convert this into a result which is not going to be easy ... V8 Supercars are a matter of inches, not metres these days. It is very, very hard.”

INGALL (4TH): “It has been said many times before, but 500km is a long way around this place and there will be so many variables during the race ... I have no doubts that Luke (Youlden) will do the job as my co-driver and I am sure that if we keep our heads down we can really be in the mix at the end of the race.We finished second last year after qualifying 15th, so we are actually in much better shape than we were on the Saturday in 2004.”

AMBROSE (5TH): “Today was not about championship points, but about rewarding the team and the fans and I am disappointed for them ... We don’t have any excuses. We will put the lap behind us and get on with the job tomorrow, which is going to be a long day. I have a great co-driver in Warren Luff and I am sure we can be a contender for the race.”

• 1 Garth Tander, 1m 10.8917
• 2 Craig Lowndes +0.18
• 3 Greg Murphy +0.33
• 4 Russell Ingall +0.36
• 5 Marcos Ambrose +0.37
• 6 Mark Skaife
• 7 Steve Ellery
• 8 Steven Richards
• 9 Jason Bright
• 10 Steven Johnson
• 11 McConville 12 Bowe 13 Jason Richards 14 Bargwanna 15 Ritter
• 16 Wilson 17 Seton 18 Jim Richards 19 Morris 20 Brede
• 21 Owen Kelly 22 Owen 23 Besnard 24 Halliday 25 Marshall
• 26 Coulthard 27 Holdsworth 28 Noske 29 Tratt 30 Faulkner

FRI AFTERNOON PRACTICE, SEPT 9, 2005

• 1 Garth Tander, 1m 11.4307
• 2 Todd Kelly +0.23
• 3 James Courtney +0.47
• 4 Yvan Muller +0.5
• 5 Greg Murphy +0.63
• 6 Dean Canto +0.7
• 7 Adam Macrow
• 8 Warren Luff
• 9 Paul Dumbrell
• 10 Jamie Whincup
• TODD KELLY (2ND): “It was a really productive day, but we just didn’t get all the way there in the end. There’s a still a bit we need to do. All the changes we’ve made today, we’ve really been keeping in mind what the weather’s going to be like for the rest of the weekend. We could have made the car faster today, but it wouldn’t have been an advantage tomorrow and race day. We’ve been a bit sensible in our approach and hopefully it will pay off on race day. There’s a little bit of fine tuning left to do and we’re nearly there. Mark and I both know that if we go out there and do the best job we can, and so do all of the team, we can definitely get a result here. It’s going to be hard work but if we do our job well, we’ll be there.”
• JAMES COURTNEY (3RD): “It’s been good to get the first day over and done with, and see that the car is quite good. The test sessions we’ve done meant I was pretty ready for this, I think it’s going to be hard to pass at this circuit, the track is really quite narrow and there seems to be only one racing line so qualifying is going to be important. There aren’t too many parallels to the Japan GT Championship – they’ve got four wheels and that’s about it! The level in the championship is really high, it’s a really good series and I’m enjoying myself driving in it. The H-pattern gearbox still feels very foreign after five or six years of driving with sequential, it’s quite tricky. It’s just something I’ll get with experience and more time in the car."
• FRI MORNING PRACTICE:
• 1 R.Ingall/L.Youlden 1m 10.8623
• 2 M.Ambrose/W.Luff +0.18
• 3 C.Lowndes/Y.Muller +0.21
• 4 T.Kelly/M.Skaife
• 5 S.Richards/P.Dumbrell
• 6 R.Kelly/G.Tander

RACE PREVIEW:

• Leigh Diffey (Channel 10): "If the dramatic sprint season we have been enjoying is any
  indicator, the endurance events will be something special. Whenever variables are added to the V8 Supercar mix, the end result is spectacular. More drivers, more laps, and more pitstops simply means more at stake. The drivers have only this event and the Super
  Cheap 1000 at Bathurst before dropping their worst points round, so the pressure is on. After 'The Mountain' it's a straight fight to the end. The Betta Electrical 500 at Sandown is always a tough event to win. Weather can be a major factor coupled with co-drivers in the spotlight and wanting to prove a point. Who has the best driver combo? Will the foreign drivers perform? Which team will be best in the pits? Who'll play it best with strategy? All great questions to be answered soon!"